Apologies for the delay in reporting back: I returned with a cold which became a nasty bout of bronchitis followed by a further bout of general fatigue followed by a period of utter laziness!
I actually treated myself to the whole week in Birmingham, which seemed like a good idea at the time. The first three days I spent in a masterclass with Susan Brandeis about developing creative potential and designing meaningful quilts. If you ever get the chance of a class with Susan, seize it with both hands. It came at absolutely the right time for me and was exactly what I needed since - as my entries for FOQ below will reveal - my work suffers at times from lack of thought: I've tended to go with the flow rather than really thinking about and developing ideas and designs. I'll post later about how this workshop has helped me develop.
One really good thing about the workshop was the group of people I was with: really supportive people producing excellent work - though at times I did feel myself running to catch up! Here we are (minus a couple of people who had to leave early:
By the end of the masterclass I was completely exhausted and, having seen all the amazing quilts (standards have been raised colossally since I last went to a large quilt show), I felt more than a bit apologetic about mine. Still I did promise to put them on my blog and here they
are:
First of all Snakes and Ladders, finished at last. Even though there are things wrong with this I still love it: apart from anything else it's the first quilt I'd started since 2000 when my husband died so it's great to have it finished.
The second is based on pebbles and rockpools, made of silk, satin, silk organza and cotton jersey plus silk fibres, hand embroidery and machine quilting:
It did suffer through having to be finished in a hurry - serve me right for over-estimating what I could do in the time.
The third quilt is the one I was really embarrassed by - if I could have taken it down and stuffed it away and hidden it from view I would have done so. I hadn't intended to attempt anything naturalistic but it kept drifting that way - not only that but it wasn't very well designed to start with (shouldn't have skimped on that bit) so that compositionally it is dreadful. On the plus side some of the detail works really well (two of the three judges commented on the painterly use of fabric, and one liked the light in the trees so there's something to build on there).
Must remember next year to only enter things finished before the entry deadline so that I know I'm only presenting my best work to the public!
The remainder of the week was highly enjoyable. Lots of amazing quilts and exhibitions to see (afraid I don't have pictures as I had camera problems), friends old and new to meet and catch up with and went home with lighter pockets but weighed down with supplies.
Oh, and the cats really did seem to miss me - wouldn't let me out of their sight once for three weeks after coming back from the cattery but insisted on following me everywhere - even Bixy made his way up two flights of stairs to find a curling-up spot in the studio.
More catching up soon!
4 comments:
Lovely to see your quilts.
Warm regards
Karen
Even if you don't 'like' your tree-quilt, I love it.
That second one is really lovely. As for snakes & ladders, I too lost my husband in 2000, and understand the significance of what represents in essence surviving by continuing to quilt. I found I couldn't trust myself anymore, so for a year I made projects pretty much from patterns where few decisions needed to be made. I so clearly remember the first original design I attempted over a year later, thinking I was in over my head, that I didn't have the skills to design it. Suddenly, it was as if he were there whispering in my ear, "but of course you do. You've done this sort of thing before and you can do it now." That quilt was such a turning point for me.
I'm just now finishing up a quilt using his silk ties. Hard to believe so many years have passed. I'm sure he'd be happy I stuck with it. Kudos to you for not only sticking with it, but entering your beautiful work in shows.
You do make lovely quilts, Sandra and thank you for posting the picture of the class - I never got around to do that and is one of those missing in the picture (as you know).
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